Broken Clamp Cited in Circus Accident

A clamp called a “carabiner” is the only piece of equipment investigators have found that failed in a circus accident in which eight aerial acrobats plummeted to the ground, a public safety official said Monday.

Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare stopped short of saying the broken clamp was the cause of Sunday’s accident at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey circus. He said federal workplace safety investigators were trying to determine why it snapped.

“We don’t know if it was metal fatigue, if it wasn’t properly positioned or something else,” he added. “We just don’t know.”

The 4- to 5-inch steel clip was one of several pieces at the top of a chandelier-like apparatus that suspended the performers in the air, fire officials said at a news conference. The clip was found in three pieces on the ground with its spine snapped.

First responders work at the center ring after a platform collapsed during an aerial hair-hanging stunt at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, Sunday, May 4, 2014, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Rosa Viveiros)

Two of the acrobats were in critical condition Monday. Family members say their injuries included a pierced liver and neck and back fractures. Stephen Payne, a spokesman for Feld Entertainment, the parent company of Ringling Bros., said none of the injuries appear to be life-threatening.

“We are hopeful that all of these performers will achieve a full recovery and be able to return to the show at some point,” Payne said. A dancer who was on the ground was also injured and released from the hospital Sunday, he said.

The circus said the women are from the United States, Brazil, Bulgaria and Ukraine.

The father of one of the women, Widny Neves, said his daughter broke her right arm and suffered back and neck fractures. Roitner Neves said Widny, who had been traveling with the circus for more than four years, was the in the center of the apparatus and upside-down when it fell.

“It was like a plunge into darkness,” he said.

She is 25 and from Joinville, Brazil, where her family owns a circus academy.

“In this profession, you run the risk of being injured,” he said. “It’s like being a race car driver or a gymnast. There’s always the risk.”

Another injured acrobat, Stefany Neves, fractured both her ankles and had her liver pierced by her ribs, her sister Renata Neves told the same news outlet. She was listed in serious condition.

Investigators from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration were leading the investigation.

The accident at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center was witnessed by an audience of about 3,900, many of them children.

The performers – called “hairialists” by the circus – hang “like a human chandelier” using their hair during the act. The performance is supposed to include choreography as well as spinning, hanging from hoops and rolling down wrapped silks while suspended 25 to 40 feet up.

Video taken by audience members shows a curtain dropping to reveal the eight women hanging from a metal apparatus suspended from above. Seconds later, as they begin to perform, the women fall, and the apparatus lands on them.

The hair-hanging stunt is described on the circus’ website as being the brainchild of husband-and-wife team Andrey and Viktoriya Medeiros. Viktoriya Medeiros is among the injured.

Payne said the equipment has been used dozens of times per week since the beginning of the year, and that a circus crew had installed it last week. The crew also inspects it, he said, and performers generally check their own rigging.

Paul Doughty, of the Providence Fire Department, said on Monday that circus officials told investigators they had done a visual inspection of the carabiner before the show. He said the carabiner, which was hooked into various other pieces of equipment, could have had a weakness that was not apparent. He did not know how old it was or how many times it had been used.

State and city officials have no role in inspecting such equipment, they said.

“They’ve used this act many times,” Pare told WPRO. “Unfortunately this particular clamp failed. It snapped off. We have it, we’re analyzing it, we’re seeing why it happened to ensure it doesn’t happen in the future. That’s all part of our focus.”

The accident was reported about 45 minutes into the circus’ 11 a.m. Sunday performance at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. Video taken by audience members shows a curtain dropping to reveal several performers hanging from an apparatus suspended from above. Seconds later, as they begin to perform, the women fall, and the metal apparatus lands on them.

“It just went crashing down,” said audience member Sydney Bragg, 14, of North Kingstown. “Everyone was freaking out. We heard this huge clatter and then we just heard the girls scream.”

She said spotlights were on the performers at the time, but all the lights went out after the fall.

Rosa Viveiros of Seekonk, Massachusetts, said she saw that the acrobats had fallen on top of at least one other performer below, a man who stood up with his face bloodied. The acrobats remained still and did not get up, she said.

“We thought it was part of the circus,” said her husband, Joe.

The couple attended the circus with their 6-year-old grandson and 9-year-old niece.

“Everyone was in shock,” Rosa Viveiros said. “It was pretty overwhelming to see that.”

The circus began performances in Providence on Friday. Monday’s shows were canceled, as were two on Sunday.

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